Our Focus Areas

The JL Foundation has 3 overlapping focus areas. These strands are consistent threads that run through and inform all of our strategic priorities. They include our commitment to marginalized children and youth, Indigenous peoples through Reconciliation; and the One-Health model.

Click on the icons below to find out more about our focus areas.

The JLF is committed to building a renewed relationship with First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Peoples based on the recognition of rights, respect, and partnership, addressing past harms, supporting strong and healthy communities, and advancing self-determination and prosperity for Indigenous Peoples. Our commitment to Reconciliation as a signatory of the Philanthropic Community’s Declaration of Action is ongoing

One Health is the recognition that the health and well-being of the environment, human and animal worlds are interdependent. The JLF is committed to supporting programs that make explicit connections between the health of people, animals and entire ecosystems. One way we have demonstrated this commitment is through our work supporting the Canadian Philanthropy Commitment on Climate Change.

Marginalization refers to a social process by which individuals or groups are distanced from access to power and resources and constructed as insignificant, peripheral, or less privileged to a community or “mainstream” society. Supporting marginalized children and youth is at the heart of all our work at the Johansen Larsen Foundation.

We recognize the diverse framing of equity issues and the importance of inclusive language in our philanthropic work.  We are committed to continually exploring recent literature and speaking with organizations and individuals to ensure that our language accurately and sufficiently represents and prioritizes marginalized individuals, acknowledging their unique experiences and needs.

Priority Area Funding Cycle

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Each year we only provide funding for programs related to 2 of our focus areas.

We aim to balance our funding between our 2 focus areas each year. We tend to have more applications for our Marginalized Children and Youth focus area than Reconciliation and One Health. For this reason, we encourage applicants to consider building a focus on Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples and/or the One Health model into their programming.